In 1966 the American government wanted to build a military base in the Indian Ocean. The British agreed to sell them an island. According to the Foreign Office report, Diego Garcia would be a perfect location - a beautiful desert island, populated only by seagulls. As an afterthought the report also included the following lines: "Unfortunately along with the birds go some few Tarzans or Men Fridays whose origins are obscure". Those Men Fridays were over 2000 native Chagossians, who were forced to leave and unceremoniously dumped on another island.
A Few Man Fridays tells the story of the Chagossians’ displacement, and the occupation of Diego Garcia by the American military. The facts alone are shocking; the ingenuity with which they are brought to life is astounding. This is a play that mimics the way that we now frenziedly consume information, flicking from historical facts to contemporary videos and comment threads. But what is chaotic in reality is presented here as personal stories, elegantly woven together with dazzling clarity.
The cast re-enact actual court hearings, radio addresses and personal testimonials from Chagossians. Images and videos are skilfully integrated into the narrative: Mickey Mouse’s Robinson Crusoe with a thick-lipped Man Friday; footage of the destroyed Chagossian way of life; and a stunning whirl of activity as characters act out the real and imagined comments beneath a recent YouTube video made by the US marines now living in Diego Garcia.
The Cardboard Citizens company works with and tells the stories of the homeless and displaced. At the centre of A Few Man Fridays is a young black Londoner, orphaned, on the streets and struggling to put together the fragments of his Chagossian history. Witnessing the devastating gulf that exists between his world and those of the middle class characters is deeply, and deliberately, unsettling.
This is play that punches you hard even as it enchants you. It wakes up a social conscience you may have never known you had.
